Sirisha Bandla is part of Virgin Galactic flight. Born in Guntur, Sirisha Bandla (33) is the second Indian-born woman in space and the fourth Indian to ever achieve the feat after Rakesh Sharma, Kalpana Chawla, and Indian-American Sunita Williams.
Indian-origin aeronautical engineer Sirisha Bandla took off for space today onboard the Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane. Her family, including her grandfather, watched the live telecast of the launch at Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh.
Pause
Born in Guntur, Sirisha Bandla (33) is the second Indian-born woman in space and the fourth Indian to ever achieve the feat after Rakesh Sharma, Kalpana Chawla, and Indian-American Sunita Williams.
Sirisha Bandla joined Virgin Galactic in 2015 as government affairs manager and has since risen through the ranks while also handling Washington operations for Virgin Orbit, which recently delivered a satellite in space using a Boeing-747 plane.
Sirisha Bandla joined Virgin Galactic in 2015 as government affairs manager and has since risen through the ranks while also handling Washington operations for Virgin Orbit, which recently delivered a satellite in space using a Boeing-747 plane.
A graduate of Purdue University, she has a Masters degree in Business Administration from Georgetown University.
British billionaire Richard Branson is being accompanied by five other passengers including Indian-born Sirisha Bandla, in what Branson has touted as the beginning of space tourism.
The WhiteKnight aircraft, VMS Eve, will carry a rocket-powered spaceship VSS Unity. About 40 minutes after take-off, Unity will drop from the middle of the mothership and ignite its rocket engine moments later to send Branson and the crew to the edge of space, about 55 miles high, for a few minutes of weightlessness.
Upon re-entry, the plane will return like a normal commercial airplane to a landing strip at Spaceport America.